Narrow Results

In this paper, we study the thermal evolution of three types of quantum correlations under the homogeneous and inhomogeneous spin star Hamiltonian. It is shown that quantum discord (QD) is more stable than the other measures in the thermal regime, but concurrence is more efficient when the Hamiltonian parameters are employed. However, all quantum correlations can reach their maximum, if the inhomogeneous parameter raises. Quantum correlations can be enhanced by a weak external magnetic field and strong coupling parameter. But they vanish in the case of a strong magnetic field, weak coupling parameter, and high temperatures.

We study dynamics of local quantum uncertainty (LQU) for a system of two cavities and two reservoirs. In the start, the cavities are treated as two qubits which are quantum correlated with each other, whereas reservoirs (also qubits) are neither correlated with each other nor with cavities. We answer two main questions in this work. First, how local quantum uncertainty decays from two quantum correlated cavities and grows among reservoirs. The second question is the examination of LQU developed among four qubits and also shed some light on its dynamics. We observe that LQU develops among reservoirs as kind of mirror image to its decay from cavities. For four qubits, we propose how to compute LQU such that the method is intuitive and analytically computable. We find that among four qubits, LQU starts growing from zero to some maximum value and then decays again to zero as the asymptotic state of cavities is completely transferred to reservoirs. We suggest the experimental setup to implement our results.

The ground state of a quantum spin chain is a natural playground for investigating correlations. Nevertheless, not all correlations are genuinely of quantum nature. Here we review the recent progress to quantify the "quantumness" of the correlations throughout the phase diagram of quantum spin systems. Focusing to one spatial dimension, we discuss the behavior of quantum discord (QD) close to quantum phase transitions (QPT). In contrast to the two-spin entanglement, pairwise discord is effectively long-ranged in critical regimes. Besides the features of QPT, QD is especially feasible to explore the factorization phenomenon, giving rise to nontrivial ground classical states in quantum systems. The effects of spontaneous symmetry breaking are also discussed as well as the identification of quantum critical points through correlation witnesses.

We examine the quantum correlations of spin pairs in the ground state of finite XY chains in a transverse field, by evaluating the quantum discord as well as other related entropic measures of quantum correlations. A brief review of the latter, based on generalized entropic forms, is also included. It is shown that parity effects are of crucial importance for describing the behavior of these measures below the critical field. It is also shown that these measures reach full range in the immediate vicinity of the factorizing field, where they become independent of separation and coupling range. Analytical and numerical results for the quantum discord, the geometric discord and other measures in spin chains with nearest neighbor coupling and in fully connected spin arrays are also provided.

As quantum technologies move from the issues of principle to those of practice, it is important to understand the limitations on attaining tangible quantum advantages. In the realm of quantum communication, quantum discord captures the damaging effects of a decoherent environment. This is a consequence of quantum discord quantifying the advantage of quantum coherence in quantum communication. This establishes quantum discord as a resource for quantum communication processes. We discuss this progress, which derives a quantitative relation between the yield of the fully quantum Slepian–Wolf (FQSW) protocol in the presence of noise and the quantum discord of the state involved. The significance of quantum discord in noisy versions of teleportation, super-dense coding, entanglement distillation and quantum state merging are discussed. These results lead to open questions regarding the tradeoff between quantum entanglement and discord in choosing the optimal quantum states for attaining palpable quantum advantages in noisy quantum protocols.

Quantum discord is a more general measure of quantum correlations than entanglement and has been proposed as a resource in certain quantum information processing tasks. The computation of discord is mostly confined to two-qubit systems for which an analytical calculational scheme is available. The utilization of quantum correlations in quantum information-based applications is limited by the problem of decoherence, i.e., the loss of coherence due to the inevitable interaction of a quantum system with its environment. The dynamics of quantum correlations due to decoherence may be studied in the Kraus operator formalism for different types of quantum channels representing system-environment interactions. In this review, we describe the salient features of the dynamics of classical and quantum correlations in a two-qubit system under Markovian (memoryless) time evolution. The two-qubit state considered is described by the reduced density matrix obtained from the ground state of a spin model. The models considered include the transverse-field XY model in one dimension, a special case of which is the transverse-field Ising model, and the XXZ spin chain. The quantum channels studied include the amplitude damping, bit-flip, bit-phase-flip and phase-flip channels. The Kraus operator formalism is briefly introduced and the origins of different types of dynamics discussed. One can identify appropriate quantities associated with the dynamics of quantum correlations which provide signatures of quantum phase transitions in the spin models. Experimental observations of the different types of dynamics are also mentioned.

Open quantum systems have attracted great attention, since inevitable coupling between quantum systems and their environment greatly affects the features of interest of these systems. Quantum discord, is a measure of the total nonclassical correlation in a quantum system that includes, but is not exclusive to, the distinct property of quantum entanglement. Quantum discord can exist in separated quantum states and plays an important role in many fundamental physics problems and practical quantum information tasks. There have been numerous investigations on quantum discord and its counterpart classical correlation. This short review focuses on highlighting the system–environment dynamics of two-qubit quantum discord and the influence of initial system–environment correlations on the dynamics of open quantum systems. The external control effect on the dynamics of open quantum systems are involved. Several related experimental works are discussed.

Recent work has relatively comprehensively studied the quantum discord, which is supposed to account for all the nonclassical correlations present in a bipartite state (including entanglement), and provide computational speedup and quantum enhancement even in separable states. Firstly, we introduce several different indicators of nonclassical correlations, including their definitions and interpretations, mathematical properties, and the relationship between them. Secondly, we review two major topics of quantum discord. One is the remarkable behavior at quantum phase transitions. The pairwise quantum discord for nearest neighbors as well as distant spin pairs can perfectly signal the critical behavior of many physical models, even at finite temperatures. The other is quantum discord dynamics in open systems, especially for "system-spin environment" models. Quantum discord is more robust than entanglement against external perturbations. It can be created, greatly amplified or protected under certain conditions, and presents promising applications in quantum technologies such as quantum computers.

Measurement-induced nonlocality (MIN), introduced by Luo and Fu [Phys. Rev. Lett.106, 120401 (2011)], is a kind of quantum correlation which is different from entanglement and quantum discord (QD). MIN is defined over one-sided projective measurements. In this paper, we introduce a MIN over two-sided projective measurements. The nullity of this two-sided MIN is characterized, a formula for calculating two-sided MIN for pure states is proposed, and a lower bound of (two-sided) MIN for maximally entangled mixed states is given. In addition, we find that (two-sided) MIN is not continuous. Both finite- and infinite-dimensional cases are considered.

For matrix product states of one-dimensional spin-1/2 chains, we investigate the properties of quantum phase transition of the proposed composite system. We find that the system has three different ferromagnetic phases, one line of the two ferromagnetic phases coexisting equally describes the paramagnetic state, and the other two lines of two ferromagnetic phases coexisting equally describe the ferrimagnetic states, while the three phases coexisting equally point describes the ferromagnetic state. Whether on phase transition lines or at the phase transition point, the system is always in an isolated mediate-coupling state, the physical quantities are discontinuous and the system has long-range correlation and has long-range classical correlation and long-range quantum correlation. We believe that our work is helpful for comprehensively and profoundly understanding the quantum phase transitions, and of some certain guidance and enlightening on the classification and measure of quantum correlation of quantum many-body systems.

In this paper, we investigate the possibility to use the Wigner function to detect and quantify quantum correlations in general. We study these quantum correlations for two quasi-Werner states formed with two general bipartite superposed squeezed states. We find then that the Wigner function is not sensitive to all kinds of quantum correlations but it only witnesses entanglement.

Discord and entanglement characterize two kinds of quantum correlations, and discord captures more correlation than entanglement in the sense that even separable states may have nonzero discord. In this paper, we propose a new kind of quantum correlation that we call as oblique discord. A zero-discord state corresponds to an orthonormal basis, while a zero-oblique-discord state corresponds to a basis which is not necessarily orthogonal. Under this definition, the set of zero-discord states is properly contained inside the set of zero-oblique-discord states, and the set of zero-oblique-discord states is properly contained inside the set of separable states. We give a characterization of zero-oblique-discord states via quantum mapping, provide a geometric measure for oblique discord, and raise a conjecture, which if it holds, then we can define an information-theoretic measure for oblique discord. Also, we point out that the definition of oblique discord can be properly extended to some different versions just as the case of quantum discord.

Correlations in open quantum systems exhibit peculiar phenomena under the effect of various sources of noise. Here, we investigate the dynamics of entanglement and quantum discord (QD) for three noninteracting qubits coupled with a classical environmental static noise characterized by an external random field. Two initial entangled states of the system are examined, namely, the GHZ- and $W$-type states. The system-environment interaction is here analyzed in three different configurations, namely, independent, mixed and common environments. We find that the dynamics of quantum correlations are strongly affected by the type of system-environment interaction and the purity of the initial entangled state. Indeed, depending on the type of interaction and the value of the purity of the initial state, peculiar phenomena such as sudden death, revivals and long-time survival of quantum correlations are observed. On the other hand, our results clearly show that quantum correlations initially present in the $W$-type states are less robust than those of the GHZ-type states. Furthermore, we find that the long-time survival of entanglement can be detected by means of the suitable entanglement witnesses.

We study the distribution of the stationary correlations in a system of two nonidentical as well as identical two-level atoms separated by an arbitrary distance and interacting with a squeezed vacuum. We investigate how the interatomic distance and the squeezing mean number of photons influence the way that one of the atoms is quantum correlated with the environment. Both for nonidentical and identical atoms, the approach of the two atoms can maximize the entanglement and quantum discord between the pair of atoms. For nonidentical atoms, the bigger the mean number of photons, the stronger the stationary correlations, i.e., entanglement of formation (EOF) and quantum discord (QD) between the qubit and the environment as the increase of distance. The increase of EOF and QD with the environment is always accompanied by a decrease of the correlations between the subsystems with regard to the interatomic distance no matter what the mean number of photons is. For identical atoms, the stationary correlations EOF and QD between each partition behave similarly with respect to the distance when the mean number of photons is very small.

Coherence arises from the superposition principle, where it plays a central role in quantum mechanics. In Phys. Rev. Lett.114, 210401 (2015), it has been shown that the freezing phenomenon of quantum correlations beyond entanglement is intimately related to the freezing of quantum coherence (QC). In this paper, we compare the behavior of entanglement and quantum discord with quantum coherence in two different subsystems (optical and mechanical). We use respectively the entanglement of formation (EoF) and the Gaussian quantum discord (GQD) to quantify entanglement and quantum discord. Under thermal noise and optomechanical coupling effects, we show that EoF, GQD and QC behave in the same way. Remarkably, when entanglement vanishes, GQD and QC remain almost unaffected by thermal noise, keeping nonzero values even for high-temperature, which is in concordance with Phys. Rev. Lett.114, 210401 (2015). Also, we find that the coherence associated with the optical subsystem is more robust — against thermal noise — than those of the mechanical subsystem. Our results confirm that optomechanical cavities constitute a powerful resource of QC.

Local available quantum correlations (LAQC), as defined by Mundarain et al., are analyzed for two-qubit X states with local Bloch vectors of equal magnitude. Symmetric X-states are invariant under the exchange of subsystems, hence having the same Bloch vector. On the other hand, anti-symmetric X states have Bloch vectors with an equal magnitude but opposite direction. In both cases, we obtain exact analytical expressions for their LAQC quantifier. We present some examples and compare this quantum correlation to concurrence and quantum discord. We have also included Markovian decoherence, with Werner states under amplitude damping decoherence. As is the case for depolarization and phase damping, no sudden death behavior occurs for the LAQC of these states with this quantum channel.

Local available quantum correlations (LAQC), as defined by Mundarain et al., are analyzed for nonsymmetric 2-qubit X states, that is, X states that are not invariant under the exchange of subsystems and therefore have local Bloch vectors whose norms are different. A simple analytic expression for their LAQC quantifier is obtained. As an example, we analyze the local application of the amplitude damping channel for Werner states and general X states. Although this local quantumchannel can create quantum discord in some cases, no such outcome is possible for LAQC, which hints toward their monotonicity under LOCC operations. This work, along with our previous result for the so-called symmetric and anti-symmetric X states, completes the pursuit of exact analytical expressions for the LAQC quantifier for 2-qubit X states.

In this paper, we study the dynamical processes of quantum coherence and correlations for two central qubits system coupled with a transverse Ising spin chain. Suppose the initial state of quantum system is the Werner state and the initial state of environment is the ground state of spin chain, and the corresponding time evolution operator, decoherence factor and reduced density matrix are given. We deduce the analytical expressions of evolution of quantum coherence, entanglement and quantum discord. We find that when the spin chain undergoes quantum phase transition (QPT), the entanglement vanished at time $t=t_c$, and the coherence and discord vanished when the decoherence factor decayed to zero. Besides, we also find that the environmental scale N, coupling strength g and parameter P of Werner state do not change the evolution rules of quantum correlation, but accelerate their decay rate with these parameters’ increase.

The thermal quantum discord (QD) is investigated in the two-qubit anisotropic Heisenberg XXZ model under an external non-uniform magnetic field along the Z-axis. We obtain the analytical expressions of the thermal QD and thermal entanglement measured by concurrence (C). It shows that for any temperature T, QD gradually decreases with the increase of non-uniform magnetic field |b|, in some regions where C increases while QD decreases. It is also found that thermal quantum discord does not vanish at finite temperatures, but concurrence vanishes completely at a critical temperature. It is shown that for a higher value of J_Z, the system has a stronger QD. There is a critical magnetic field B_c, which increases with the increasing b. QD decay monotonically (for B < B_c) when temperature T increases, or initially increases to some peaks and then decrease (for B > B_c).

The correlations dynamics of two atoms in the case of a micromaser-type system is investigated. We show that the entangled state can be created by initially maximally mixed state and there exist collapse and revival phenomena for the time evolutions of both entanglement and quantum discord under the system considered as the field is initially in the Fock state. Our results confirm that entanglement and quantum discord have similar behaviors in certain time ranges, such as their oscillations during the time evolution being almost in phase, but they also present significant differences, such as quantum discord being maintained even after the complete loss of entanglement. Furthermore, we exhibit clearly that the dynamics of quantum discord under the action of environment are intimately related to the generation and evolution of entanglement.